Banned Books Now and Then Panel

The panelists will focus on discussing different banned literature and the impact they have on our panelists. The panel will be moderated by our bookseller Gina.

Midtown Reader is a community staple that is dedicated to creating an inclusive meeting ground for readers of all backgrounds to Read, Think, and Share together.

Our panelists for this event are:

Alejandra Gutierrez: – will be focusing on Kiss of the Spider Woman

Alejandra Gutierrez studied Journalism in Venezuela, her native country. She moved to the U.S. in 2004 to attend graduate school. She got a Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Virginia. She is a professor of Spanish at the Modern Languages Department at FSU. She teaches Spanish language and Hispanic culture, theater, and literature. She’s also a translator. While in Venezuela she studied theater, and in 2016 she founded Tallahassee Hispanic Theater to present contemporary Hispanic theater productions for the cultural education and enrichment of the community while building cross-cultural awareness.

Camille Viela-Jones: – will be focussing on Ulysses

Camille Viela-Joes is visiting teaching faculty at Florida State University, where she also earned her Ph.D. in Literature, Media and Culture. Her research focus is 20th-century British and Irish literature and its interpretation in Latin America. Her latest article can be found this summer in the Journal of Global Postcolonial Studies.

Liz Hutchison: – will be focusing on This One Summer 

Liz Hutchison is a Literature, Media, and Culture Ph.D. Candidate at Florida State University, where they teach queer horror studies courses. Their dissertation project, Em(body)ing the Other: Other Queer Potentiality in Horror Film and Media, investigates embodied empathy in contemporary horror storytelling. They received their M.A. in Literary, Cultural, and Textual Studies at the University of Central Florida in 2018, and their B.A. in English Literature and Religious Studies from Stetson University in 2015.